Currently In Session
by DiscordianSamba
Summary: When Jacqueline Browning takes a job offer in a little town called Amity Park as a student counselor, she didn't exactly expect the ghosts. And what she expected even less than the ghosts was that the first student sent her way would bring such utter horror for her with him. Exactly who, and perhaps more importantly, WHAT is Danny Fenton? (No PP.)
1. Session One

Author's Note: oops I accidentally started another story? You guys can blame my friend Zoey for this one. Yet another thing that started as a oneshot that became something more. Anyways, as some of you might tell, this is a shorter length fic than some of my other stories! It's also not AU, other than that Phantom Planet never happened, hahaha. I hope you guys enjoy this still! It'll be split into 'Sessions' (Jacqueline's perspective) and 'Interludes' (Danny's perspective). An outsider looking in type story, and fun with creepy headcanons and Danny being immensely lacking in self awareness.

Danny Phantom does not belong to me, but Jacqueline Browning does.

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Currently in Session

Session One

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"Mister Daniel Fenton?"

The door to the Casper High school student counselor's office creaked open, and a petite woman walked out, her nose currently buried in a clipboard, no doubt eyeball deep in his increasingly extensive student records. She was a rather mousy looking thing, with a mess of pale blonde curls, and rather large glasses that looked honestly a bit too large for her face. She had a smattering of freckles across her nose, and although she tried to look professional in a dark blue pantsuit, her short stature and young age combined seemed to make her look more like one of the students desperately trying to be an adult.

"It's Danny, actually." The boy's voice spoke up, startling the counselor from her reading. "Everyone calls me Danny."

Dark brown eyes fell on the student who was seated outside her office, and she had to do a double take, glancing between the fairly innocuous file photo, and the student that was in front of her. The student's shaggy black hair appeared to be rather unkempt, part of it tied off into a very short ponytail, and one of his blue eyes was currently concealed with a gauze medical eye patch, a hint of what appeared to be a healing scar peeking through at the top. Although he was wearing a long sleeved shirt, in spite of warmer weather now coming, she could see the hint of a bandage peeking out from underneath it, and a hint of a bruise that peeked out from his turtleneck shirt on his neck.

"O-oh!" She stammered, quickly darting her eyes back to her clipboard, worried that she might have stared at him for a bit too long. "I see! Danny, then. I'm Jacqueline Browning, the new Casper High student counselor. It's very nice to meet you!" She said, extending a hand to him, which the boy took.

A shiver ran down Jacqueline's spine as their hands met, almost instantly stricken by how cold it was. "A-are you quite alright, Danny?" She asked slowly, frowning a little in concern. "You seem to be quite cold."

"Oh, no, I'm fine." Danny grinned at her, standing up. "I'm just sort of always this cold. It's nothing to really worry about, Miss Browning. Sorry, I should have warned you."

"No, that's quite alright." She shook her head, clearing her throat as she gave him a meek smile, stepping aside so that she was out of the doorway. "If you could step inside, Danny, then we can begin. I'm sure you don't really want to be here, but thank you for trying to put a good face on it anyways."

"Trust me, after our last counselor, I think I can put up with just about anyone." Danny said dryly, heading inside her office and taking a seat inside. The last time he had been here was over a year and a half ago, during freshman year. The sixteen year old boy was now in the middle of his sophomore year, and he still couldn't help but get a slight shiver in his spine when he stepped through the doors of the student counselor's office. He checked his breath out of habit, just in case, but nothing seemed to come out.

After all, what were the odds that the administrative staff of Casper High School could screw up twice and score them two ghostly therapists in a row?

"Well, as I'm sure you heard at the assembly this morning, I'm Jacqueline Browning, the new student counselor." Jacqueline told him, smiling as she went to take a seat. She had heard from other members of the staff that the last woman who held her job, Penelope Spectra, had taken the trust that the students had placed in her and had broken it, and she had also heard that during the period that she still worked here, that Danny was one of the students she had sessions with the most.

Danny Fenton was coming here as a requirement, it seemed. Several of his teachers, including his homeroom teacher, a man by the name of Edward Lancer, were deeply concerned about the young boy, and thought that he could do well with some guidance. Jacqueline had accepted, hoping that she could wipe the slate clean for him, and show him that not all therapists were there to hurt him- on the contrary, in fact!

Still, she hadn't quite expected that she was taking on such a problem student when she had accepted the offer. But she wouldn't relent! This was her very first job, and she had gotten it so soon after graduating with her degree in psychology! In today's job market, Jacqueline considered herself very lucky indeed, even if that meant packing her bags and moving out to some place called 'Amity Park' in the middle of Illinois. She had never even heard of the place until now.

Of course, it was only after here that she learned that the town was extremely haunted, and ghost attacks were frequent, and that was almost enough to make her change her mind. But upon realizing that if she quit this job before she even started, she might never get a second shot at this, she had steeled herself to spend at least a year here before going elsewhere. Besides, it seemed as if Casper High school was in dire need of a new counselor, after the last one had turned out to be a disaster. The position had gone unfilled for a year and a half now, it seemed.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Browning." Danny said, forcing himself to smile at her still. She was right- he didn't want to be here. He didn't need help from a counselor or a therapist, or anything like that. Although he guessed from the perspective of his teachers, he was probably an increasingly troubled student, and had been ever since he had gotten his ghost powers. He guessed from an outsider's standpoint, it did look like something was wrong with him.

"You as well, Danny!" Jacqueline smiled, setting down his file on her desk and spreading out her papers. She had been already read it over several times already, but she wanted to know all of the ins and outs of this boy before she started talking to him, and learn what it was exactly that had caused him to end up more or less being forced into her office.

It started off being fairly mundane things- chronic tardiness, falling asleep in class, frequently missing assignments and failing tests. Even the extensive record of detentions he had in his files for skipping class, or occasionally cutting school entirely weren't too out of the realm of the normal. There were reports that hew as being bullied, or had been up until a few weeks ago, by one Dash Baxter, and she made a mental note to have this Dash pulled aside so she could have a chat with him later.

He had only two friends, Samantha Manson, whose record suggested that she was an outspoken Goth and an activist, and Tucker Foley, whose record suggested that he was good with computers, but also had a record of loitering suspiciously close to the girl's bathroom. His older sister, Jasmine, was a graduating senior this year, and she was Casper High's golden girl, it seemed, a stark contrast to her younger brother. Jacqueline wondered if some of Danny's issues were from feeling as if he was in his sister's shadow, which she had made a note to ask him about.

And then there were the things nobody could really explain. Danny Fenton, the records said, had the strangest habit of turning in schoolwork that was filled with nonsense gibberish, a sample of which had been included in her records. She'd tried to make heads or tails with it, but it looked like no language Jacqueline knew. Sometimes there were reports that he would slip into it in the middle of talking as well, and never seemed to notice it. He seemed to be able to read his gibberish and understand his nonsense talk, but nobody else could.

Mysterious bruises and injuries that he did his best to conceal, scars that other boys who shared physical education with him had reported, some of them rather horrible. The kind of thing that couldn't be obtained through bullying, at least, not from any kind of bullying that she knew.

She noted that his parents were ghost hunters, Jack and Maddie Fenton, two that she had heard about shortly after moving here. She had heard that Maddie Fenton was quite the competent ghost hunter, and that she need not worry when she was around- but she hadn't exactly heard flattering things about her husband.

There was also the Red Hunter, a fearsome and mysterious ghost hunter, clad in black and red, who used a high tech jet sled to hunt ghosts. Nobody knew her true identity, but she had grown in competence since she had first appeared in Amity Park. Jacqueline thought it was a bit reassuring to hear that there were capable ghost hunters in the city, and it did give her a bit less worry.

Of course, the third ghost hunter she had heard about was a ghost himself, and that one did cause her some worry. She had heard he was a powerful ghost by the name of Phantom, who appeared to be a white haired, green eyed teenager, dressed in black and white. He played at being a hero, they said, but the people of the town had mixed opinions about him.

But this wasn't the time for thinking about such things, she had to concentrate on the task at hand.

"Now, I know that you're only here because your teachers or more or less forcing you to be here, so why don't we take this slow, Danny? Get to know each other a little?" Jacqueline asked, smiling at him. "I'm sure you don't really want to spill all the secrets of your soul to someone that you just met. Why don't we chat a little?"

"Oh, sure." Danny blinked, almost seeming relieved.

"Why don't you start by telling me a little about yourself?" She asked, leaning back in her chair a little.

"Oh, uh, well." Danny blinked a little, frowning a bit, as if wondering what to say. His gaze briefly flickered up and behind Jacqueline, something she had been noticing that he had been doing since he entered the room. A nervous habit, she wondered? "I like space a lot." He began, not knowing what else to start with. He had almost said that he wanted to be an astronaut, but ever since he became half ghost, he had the sinking feeling that this wasn't possible. His slow heartbeat alone would get him tossed right out of the training program, most likely.

"Um, I've got two best friends, Sam and Tucker." He flushed a little when the former was mentioned. "Well, I guess I started dating Sam recently. Or, I think we're dating, at least. It's kind of touch and go and pretty unclear at this point." Danny told her, frowning a little. What else could he say? It almost made him cringe, realizing that quite a bit of his life was now focused on ghost hunting, stuff that he couldn't talk about. "I like to play video games, like Doomed, and I like horror and action movies."

"Oh, my roommate in college loved Doomed!" Jacqueline chimed in, smiling at him. Finding something to relate to with the student was always a good place to start. "I tried to play it once, out of curiosity, but I guess I'm not a very good gamer. I never really understood it."

"Well, I haven't played it as much as I would like to lately." Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I haven't even had a chance to install the latest expansion pack."

"Why not?" Jacqueline asked, peering over her glasses at him. "It sounds like you're an awfully busy person, Danny. Too busy to do your homework and too busy for sleep, from the looks of your files."

Danny cringed a little- he had walked right into that one, hadn't he? "You know... stuff."

"Stuff like what?" Jacqueline insisted. "As a student, your primary focus should be school. I'm sure whatever this stuff is, that it can wait until you get your academics back on track."

She had read in his files that Danny had actually been a very promising student in middle school, and for the first three months of his freshman year. It was during his freshman year that all of his strange behavior had begun. He had been banned from handling any fragile school equipment, had a list of detentions twice as long as her leg, and perhaps the oddest thing in his files was that he had been written up for 'spooking transfer students', although they shed no more light on that.

There were some theories, of course. Drugs, gang violence- and then something to do with ghosts. She wasn't sure what she thought about that last one.

"Well, that's..." Danny looked away from her, breaking eye contact. He was obviously searching for something to say, and Jacqueline had reason to believe that it might be a lie.

And then suddenly the room plunged into darkness.

"Oh shoot!" Jacqueline huffed, standing up and scooting her chair back, glancing in the direction she more or less thought that the ceiling lamp was in. "I'm sorry Danny, I'll have to get a replacement bulb from the storage closet." She sighed, turning back to the teenager, whose outline she could barely make out in the light coming in from underneath her door.

And she froze, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

She didn't even need to use the bare light trickling into the room from outside, because she could have made out where Danny Fenton was seated purely by his eyes- or the one, at least, his other hidden from sight by the eye patch. She had wanted to ask about that too, but she also hadn't want to risk getting ahead of herself and accidentally making him shut down but- a shiver ran through her spine, and for the first time since she had entered the room, she realized that it was actually a bit cold in here.

"Miss Browning?" Danny spoke up. "Is something wrong?"

"O-oh, nothing, Danny. I'm sorry. Let me go get that light bulb." Jacqueline stammered, forcing her shiver to subside, tearing her eyes away from him, reminding herself to breathe. There was nothing in her report that had mentioned this!

In the near pitch black of the counselor's office, Danny Fenton's good eye stood out, glowing a faint blue color. She hadn't noticed it when the lights were on, but she couldn't miss it now. Glowing eyes weren't natural, right? "I'll be right back." She said after a moment, trying to force back her fear. Why was she afraid of him? She hadn't been just a second ago, what on earth was wrong with her?

"You just stay here, okay?" She told him, giving him her best smile, although she doubted he could see it anyways. "We'll pick back up where we left off in a second."

It wasn't until she was outside of the room that Jacqueline let out a deep breath, leaving the door propped open. Making her way to the storage closet, she fought back another shiver as she recalled Danny's eye, glowing blue in the darkness of the room, and the sudden chill that she had felt wash over her. What the hell was that? She'd never heard anything, anywhere, about glowing eyes. Was it some kind of prank?

"Steady, Quin, you can do this." She said, taking in and letting out a deep breath. "He's just a sixteen year old boy, he's not harming anyone. It was probably just a trick of the light."

Thus reassured, she unlocked the storage closet, and switched on the light, looking around for a light bulb that seemed like it would fit. Somehow she wasn't all that shocked that it had burnt out, it had been awhile since the room had last been used, after all. Grabbing two light bulbs that looked like they might work, she left the storage closet, making a note to return whichever didn't fit after her session with Danny.

She wasn't quite sure what she had expected from him after she read his files, but he seemed _mostly _like a normal teenage boy. He had a girlfriend, he seemed to have hobbies and interests of his own, and he wasn't exactly like she had pictured a problem student to be. From what she had read, she had expected him... perhaps to be a little more aloof? Aggressive? She wasn't sure, but he seemed like an okay kid. That was what Mr. Lancer had told her, and considering that he was Danny's homeroom teacher, she valued his opinion on the boy a bit more.

And yet...

There was something just a bit off about Danny Fenton, something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Something about the way that he watched her, never quite taking his eyes off of her, even when it had seemed he had looked away. A certain unnatural wariness he had about him.

And then of course, there was the matter of his eyes. Was it really just a trick of the light? She guessed she'd find out soon enough, because there was the door to her office.

And that's when she found herself freezing in place once again, that cold shiver running up her spine once more. Jacqueline's brown eyes flew wide as she heard the low murmurs from coming inside of the office, that she recognized as being Danny's voice. But something about it, some strange hint to it, made her freeze in place, unable to take a single step forward, her breath catching in her throat, long before it dawned on her that she couldn't understand a single word that he was saying.

She had frowned at the mention of a 'nonsense language' when she had read about it, finding it strange and honestly a little worrying, but she hadn't expected _this._ The words seem distorted to her ears, as if they were things that she wasn't supposed to hear, wasn't supposed to even try to comprehend. The tones and inflections used were all wrong, and there was an undercurrent, subtle, but yet one that she could sense, that almost seemed to be broadcasting a message of fear. It was enough to churn her stomach, and she could feel sweat trickle down her cheek, as she tried to force herself to take a step forward.

And then the words stopped, and all at once, the world righted itself for her. Letting out a deep breath, her shoulders slumped, tension washing off of them. Trying to steady herself, she took in and let out another deep breath before she entered the room, doing her best to put a smile back on her face. "Sorry that took so long, Danny! I had a hard time picking out which ones would work for the lamp."

Her eyes darted about the room, half trying to see who he was speaking to, and half trying to look anywhere but the raven haired boy's face. But eventually, they settled on it anyways, and she had to avoid cringing once she realized that the glow of his good eye hadn't been a mistake.

And there was no one else in the room with him, either. Who had he been talking to?

And what on earth was that... _noise_? She didn't want to call it a language even, it was just noise to her. How did this not manage to disturb other people?

"Oh, that's okay." Danny told her, grinning a little. He had gotten up out of his chair, having appeared to have wandered around the room a little, and was lounging in front of her desk a little. There was something about the way his gaze tracked her as she moved into the room that put her on edge, and she didn't like it one bit. "It's a new office, after all, stuff like that happens."

"Right." Jacqueline said, laughing a little, squinting as she used the light from the hallway to locate the ceiling lamp. "I hope you don't mind if I use your chair, Danny." She said, picking it up and walking it over to where the burnt out light was. "...Who were you talking to?" She asked after a moment, and only after she wasn't looking at him, busying herself in trying to tell apart the light bulbs that she had gotten in the dim light.

"Oh, sorry, I had a phone call." Danny said quickly, and she knew he was lying. But if he wasn't on the phone, who was he talking to? Himself? She suppressed the shiver this time, digging up resolve in herself. No part of Danny's actions towards her gave her any reason to fear him, and she felt horrible even feeling it for a moment. She was bound to run into some strange students here and there in her line of work, although she hadn't expected her first 'patient' of a sorts, to be one.

"Here, let me do that." Danny said, almost effortlessly making his way over towards Jacqueline, as if the dim light didn't hinder him at all. "I've got good night vision." He chuckled a little, taking the two different bulbs from her, not waiting for her to protest. Glancing between the two of them, he decided on one, before handing the other back to her. Standing on the chair, he easily unscrewed the cover of the light fixture, unscrewing the burnt out bulb and passing it off to Jacqueline, before screwing the right one in.

The lights came back on in the room in a flicker, and Jacqueline had to blink a bit, suddenly blinded by the bright light. When Danny came back down off the chair, he smiled at her, the mysterious glow his eyes gave off in the dark having all but vanished, and strangely, any tension that the therapist had felt as well with it.

"There!" He told her, grinning from ear to ear. "All done."

"Thank you." Jacqueline said after a moment, although she frowned a little, biting her lip. She wanted to ask about his eyes, but she didn't even know what to say. What if she just sounded crazy? She didn't want to lose this job, she thought, and so she decided to bite her tongue for the moment. Heading back over towards her desk, she set aside the unused light bulb, and tossed the burnt out one in the garbage.

"W-where were we?" She stammered a little. She had completely forgotten.

"Uh, we were talking about my academics, I think." Danny said, fudging the truth a little. "I'm not trying to make bad grades, Miss Browning, it just sort of happens." He told her. "I am trying, in my own way, that much I can promise, and I do extra makeup work and tests when I get the chance..."

"Oh, yes." Jacqueline blinked, almost grateful for the normalcy of this conversation. See Quin? Just a normal teenage boy, with normal teenage worries. "Well, it would seem as if not all of your teachers quite agree with your sentiments, Danny. Perhaps if you spoke one on one with them, you could each come to a solution in regards to the matter? We're still only in your sophomore year, so there's a little bit of license for you to play around, but you should be careful still. If you miss something important now that you'll need later, you'll have a hard time learning it later on in the school year."

"I know." Danny nodded his head. "And I'll try, Miss Browning. Not all of the teachers like me all that much." He said with a small frown, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't think I'm a bad student at least, I try not to be. I don't want to cause the teachers problems, they've got enough on their minds as it is."

"Then perhaps you could explain to them exactly what it is that is consuming so much of your time?" Jacqueline ventured.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea." Danny said, frowning a little, averting his good eye from her. And yet, still, there was a lingering gaze on her, and she had to force back the feeling of discomfort.

He had a terrible experience with the last counselor, he had every right to be wary of her, she thought. In her shoes, she would be too.

"Why not?" Jacqueline inquired. "Surely it would help."

"It's a bit complicated." Danny said after a moment. And then, suddenly, he went stiff as a board, his eyes finally entirely looking away from her. His breath seemed to escape from his lips, and Jacqueline frowned, wondering if it was really that cold. She didn't have much time to dwell on this, however, as shortly afterwards, a siren went off that she knew well as being a 'ghost alarm'. One of the other teachers had taken care to explain it to her earlier in the day.

"Ghost alarm." Danny said, jumping to his feet, looking quite tense, almost as if he was forcing himself from springing into action. "Miss Browning, do you know the drill?" He asked, glancing back towards her.

"I do." She nodded her head, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. Ghosts! Already. She prayed that she wouldn't see it, whatever ghost it was. The thought that such things were actually real was terrifying enough, she doubted that she could handle actually seeing one in person. "Come on, then, you'll come with me, Danny." She said, hurrying over towards him, grabbing his hand.

Danny opened his mouth to protest, but allowed himself to be pulled along by the new counselor. She hurried towards the designated safe area she had been told to go to when she was in her office, which in this case, was the teacher's lounge, where there was a mini ghost shield set up that she had been shown how to activate. There was no need for her to do so, of course, because when she got there, she found that she wasn't alone.

"Ah, Miss Browning." Mr. Lancer glanced up from the coffee he was busying himself making, the low hum of the portable generator telling her it was already working. "Your first session, interrupted by a ghost attack. Well, I suppose now is as good a time as ever to welcome you formally to Amity Park."

"Are you sure we'll be safe here?" She almost hesitated to ask, before turning back towards the student she had brought with her.

Or at least, she thought she had, as she now found her hand empty, and Danny Fenton nowhere in sight.

"Gave you the slip, did he?" Mr. Lancer noted, giving her a knowing nod. "He has a habit of doing that. He's slipped through my fingers more times than I can count. You shouldn't worry too much though, Miss Browning, he'll be just fine. I think he goes and hides somewhere on his own during ghost attacks, although I couldn't really tell you why."

"S-shouldn't I go look for him, though?" Jacqueline asked, hesitation clear on her face. As much as she was concerned for her charge, she also really didn't want to go out into a hallway that could be infested by ghosts.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Mr. Lancer shook his head. "Ghost attacks at Casper High are usually quickly put down by either Phantom or the Red Hunter. This alert should be over shortly. Of course... I don't think Mr. Fenton will be returning to his session afterwards. That's another habit of his to."

"Um, Mr. Lancer?" Jacqueline frowned a little, glancing over towards the older man. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go on." He nodded his head, taking a sip of his coffee. "And you can call me Edward, Miss Browning, if you like."

"Oh yes! Edward." Jacqueline said, quickly nodding her head. She was allowed to call teachers by their first names now, wasn't she? How very strange. "Exactly what kind of student is Danny Fenton anyways?"

"_That_," Mr. Lancer began, arching a brow. "Is a very good question."


	2. Interlude One

Author's Note: And without further ado, the first interlude! Thanks to all of you who have reviewed and followed and favorited thus far! I hope not to let you all down. Please enjoy the next chapter!

Danny Phantom does not belong to me.

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Currently in Session

Interlude One

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"Skulker, I should have guessed it was you." Phantom remarked dryly, his green eyed gaze locked on to the all too familiar ghost in front of him. "What, heard about the eye and thought you should come while the picking was ripe? Bad news, because I'm pretty sure I can take you out with both eyes closed."

"Rather confident words, from someone who nearly got his eye taken out in the first place." Skulker remarked, a slight smirk appearing on his face. "But enough talk, ghost child. Today, I shall finally adorn my wall with your pelt!"

"Okay, that seriously never gets any less gross." Phantom quirked a brow. "I seriously am never going to understand your damage, Skulker. You've never even won against me once, you know." He pointed out. "What exactly makes you think that this time is going to be any different?"

"A good hunter never gives up on his prey so easily." Skulker noted, that being all the warning that he gave him before he fired off one of his shoulder rockets. Phantom raised an ectoplasmic shield, defending himself against it, before firing several ectoblasts towards the hunter ghost. Sending off a volley of mini rockets, Skulker's smirk was quickly wiped off his face when Phantom took the bigger rocket he had caught in his shield earlier, and chucked it back at him, the ensuing explosion forcing the ghost back.

"Like I said Skulker, not a chance." Phantom said easily, pulling out the Fenton Thermos and sucking him up inside of it with a grin. Screwing the cap back on, he floated back down towards the ground, glancing towards Casper High School. The ghost alarm would be over in a little bit, and he didn't exactly want to go back and be forced to continue his session with Miss Browning. Now was as good a chance as any to ditch her, and he almost had to thank Skulker for showing up.

He still couldn't believe that the school thought he needed therapy, though. When Mr. Lancer had pulled him aside yesterday to tell him that they were setting up an appointment for him with the new school therapist that would be coming in the next day, he had just wanted to sink into a hole. He kind of had always suspected that he was viewed as something as a problem child- after all, he was perpetually either late to class or just flat out absent, but he couldn't have imagined that the school thought he was having enough issues to justify enough concern to put him into therapy.

"Well, at least she's no Spectra." He mumbled to himself, turning intangible and flying into the school building. He would grab his stuff from his locker, and then get out of here, and go catch Sam and Tucker at the Nasty Burger. Tucker had gotten a part time job there to spend more time with Valerie, which more or less meant that the Nasty Burger had become even more of their afterschool hangout, so to speak, than it already was.

It was true though, at the very least, the new therapist seemed nice. A little bit easily startled- he had noticed how jumpy she had gotten when the lights went out in her office. Yeah, sure, he guessed the glowing eyes were a bit freaky and all, but Sam and Tucker never seemed to find anything weird about them, and his parents didn't even seem to notice. He just figured if he tried to downplay it, she'd get over it.

He still didn't know if she had heard him talking to the ghost that lingered around her, but he didn't think so.

He first spotted the said ghost at the general morning assembly, where Jacqueline had been introduced to the rest of the student body. It had startled him, to say the least, but he quickly noticed that nobody else seemed to notice it, not even Sam or Tucker. There were ghosts like that, he had found during his time being a half-ghost, that were two weak to be seen, and usually too weak to do any really mischief. He had decided to put it out of his mind, and see if he could strum up some conversation with the ghost if he got a chance, and see what her deal was.

From the way they resembled each other, he could sort of guess, though.

Finding his locker and phasing his hand through it, Phantom grabbed his backpack, making sure to stay invisible all the while. He didn't exactly want Phantom to be caught on security camera riffling around in Danny Fenton's locker, of course. Grinning as he pulled it out, he slung it over his shoulder, before flying off. He didn't want to stick around the school any longer than he should, because he imagined soon enough, either his parents or Valerie would be around, and he wasn't much in the mood to deal with either of them today.

He didn't turn back into regular Danny Fenton until he had cleared some distance from the school, ducking into an alleyway and letting the change come over him. Humming to himself, he headed on down the sidewalk towards the Nasty Burger. Oh sure, he would probably get an earful from one of his teachers tomorrow, but he wasn't going to let it bother him. After all, it wasn't exactly like he _needed _therapy.

"Danny!" Tucker looked up from the counter as he came in, grinning at him. "Nice to see you're still in one piece. How was therapy?"

"Fine, I guess." Danny said, glancing around. "Where's Sam?" He asked.

"Bathroom." Tucker told him, shrugging his shoulders. "What can I get you? You must be starving after Youngblood made you miss lunch today."

Danny considered this for a moment, frowning a little as he put his hand on his stomach. "Not actually as hungry as I thought I was. But I could go for some fries." He told him, grinning a little, missing the slight frown that appeared on his friend's face. "I don't suppose you could give 'em to me for free?"

"You make that joke every single time you come in here, Danny." Valerie chimed in, glancing over from the grill. "It wasn't funny the first time."

"Sorry." Danny gave her a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his head. He had been on sort of sour terms with Valerie ever since he had started more or less going out with Sam, and it kind of bothered him. He did still want to be friends with Valerie, although it seemed as if she still had lingering feelings for him that he wasn't aware of. He didn't exactly know what to say to make it up to her, or even if he was supposed to say something in this situation.

"One regular fry, coming right up." Tucker said, ringing Danny up and taking his money. "So, how was the shrink? She decide you were crazy after all?"

"I'm not crazy, Tuck." Danny rolled his eyes. "When did you get off shift anyways?" He asked. He wanted to talk to them about Jacqueline's ghost, but he couldn't exactly do that with Valerie the ghost slayer lingering around. He'd rather she not know that he could see things that normal humans couldn't- and he'd honestly rather not let her know that their new student counselor was being haunted. He didn't think it would end well.

"In ten." Tucker told him, handing him the order of fries that Valerie grumpily passed towards him. "After that, Sam and I were planning on hitting the bowling alley. You want to come with, now that you're home free?"

"Oh, yeah, I could use a break." Danny nodded his head, hoping for once, the ghosts of Amity Park would comply. Taking his fries, he finally spotted Sam coming out of the bathroom, and grinned, waving over towards her.

"So, you doing that yet?" Tucker asked, arching an eyebrow.

Nearly choking on the fry that he was eating, Danny forced it down, before coughing and whirling on his friend, his face bright red, and the lights above them flickered a bit. "I don't know what you mean!"

"Ah." Tucker nodded his head, a knowing look in his eyes. "Well, as long as you've been using protection, dude, I'm okay with that."

"_Tucker!_" Danny hissed, his face now completely red. "Would you shut up?"

"What's up with the two of you?" Sam noted, glancing between them as she approached, frowning a little. "Glad to see you're okay, Danny. You didn't look too thrilled about the prospect of seeing a therapist again." She remarked, and then dropped her voice. "Even if this one isn't a ghost. She's not, right?"

"No." Danny shook his head, eyes darting towards Valerie, who seemed as if she hadn't heard them, busy at the grill. "We'll talk about it more when Tucker gets off his shift." He coughed then. "I uh, might have slipped out of there a bit early though, I should probably give the two of you a heads up."

"Somehow I imagined you would." Sam remarked, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, at least they're showing concern for you Danny. I'd be more worried about your academic career if they just didn't care about you at all."

"I guess that's true. I imagine Lancer's going to be furious tomorrow." Danny remarked, taking another bite out of his fries. "So we're going bowling after this, right? Tucker mentioned it. We can talk on the way there, I guess."

"Mmhm." Sam nodded her head. "You clocking out soon, Tuck?" She asked, glancing over towards their friend.

"Yeah, in just a second." Tucker said, turning to look at Valerie. "I'm heading out. You're good, right?"

"I'm good. It's pretty dead right now." Valerie noted. "See you later Tuck. You too, Danny, Sam." She said, her tone a bit more short with them.

"Mm." Sam simply frowned, waiting for Tucker to clock out and join them. The trio headed out of the Nasty Burger, Danny lingering a bit behind them, still munching away on his fries. "I don't really see what her problem is, to be honest. I thought she was doing the whole, breaking up with you for your own good thing." She recalled. "Besides, that was in freshman year, even. Don't tell me she still had feelings for you or something?"

"I don't know. I don't know what to do about it myself. She'll probably get over it in awhile. Valerie's not the kind to hold on to really petty grudges." Danny observed, then blinked a little when his friends both gave a skeptical look back towards him. He rolled his eyes then, heaving a sigh. "No, as annoying as it is, and as stubborn as she is about it, her shtick about hunting Phantom isn't exactly petty. I did sort of cause her father to loose her job and her father to go into debt, even if I didn't mean it. She has all the reason in the world to be angry with me, and I've got no right to tell her that she shouldn't be."

"He does kind of have a point." Sam said, shrugging her shoulders. "So anyways, Danny. Spill the beans on your session."

"Well, she's nice." Danny began. "The school managed to avoid picking another Spectra, which is always reassuring. I think she's a little easily startled and frightened though. I don't know why she decided to take a job in Amity Park, of all places, if that's the case though." He noted.

"Most people think the whole ghost business is some kind of tourist trap thing." Tucker told him, shrugging his shoulders. "They even think the whole vanishing Amity Park thing that happened when the Ghost King invaded was some kind of crazy PR stunt. I guess that's a little easier for people to swallow, rather than to accept that ghosts are real."

"You didn't scare the poor dear, did you?" Sam asked, glancing back towards him.

"Maybe a little. But not on purpose." Danny rolled his eyes. "They haven't used that office since Spectra left. Light bulb burnt out. I don't think she took to the glowing eyes-" he paused, frowning a little as he lightly touched the side of his eyepatch. "..._eye_, rather, too well."

"They _can _be a little freaky, dude." Tucker noted, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, it's good news that she's not another Spectra. I would have started worrying about our administrative staff if they messed that up again."

"True enough." Danny laughed. "**Although there is one little interesting factor about her.** **She's being haunted."**

"English, Danny." Sam told him, glancing back towards the half ghost. "Try that one again."

"Oh, sorry." Danny blinked, munching on another one of his fries. He hadn't even realized that he had slipped into ghost. Although that seemed to be par for the course for him these days. Honestly, it was a miracle that he hadn't done it around his parents or at least, not to his knowledge. That one might be a bit hard to explain away.

"Like I was trying to say, she's being haunted." Danny told them, and when that garnered surprised looks from his friends, he laughed a little. "You two can't see her on your spectrum, but I can. It's a weak spirit, and she seems pretty benevolent. A little bit of a mess though, I can't imagine her death was all that pleasant."

"Is there even such a thing as a pleasant death?" Tucker asked. "I don't know how you put up with it though, Danny. Most of the ghosts people like me and Sam can see aren't always visually that frightening, but from the sound of it, the ones we can't see are vaguely more horrifying. You must have a pretty strong stomach."

"You get used to it after awhile." Danny told him. "Besides, it's not like there have even been that many violent deaths in Amity Park. There's only a couple of really freaky specters floating around, and the rest of them are just imprints and stuff." He told them, shrugging his shoulders. "You're not exactly missing out on anything by not being able to see them."

"I think it's kind of neat." Sam grinned. "You get to see the whole world in a way that most people won't ever be able to see it, Danny."

"I guess that's true." He frowned a little, mulling it over a bit, before seemingly pushing the thought aside. "Anyways, it doesn't look like her ghost is anything to worry about. Other than being weak, she seems pretty benevolent. I had a quick chat with her while Miss Browning was out getting a new light bulb. Apparently, she's her older sister Iliana, and she's watching over her to keep her out of trouble as best as she can. So, nothing really too worrisome. I guess a bit sweet, even. I don't think Miss Browning's ever noticed her though, which is kind of depressing."

"So, you going to keep going to these things, Danny?" Tucker asked. "It could spell trouble for you if she's perceptive enough."

"I'll probably have to go to at least two more or so." Danny rolled his eyes, heaving a sigh. "You know, do my best to convince them I don't need it, and they'll lose interest and stop making me go after awhile." He shrugged his shoulders. "No big deal. This should all wrap up about two weeks or so, at the worst. Besides, I don't really think there's any way she'd ever put two and two together. She's not even from here, after all, and honestly, if even my parents can't tell, then I'm pretty sure someone who just met me would never suspect that I was half ghost."

"No, but she could suspect other things." Sam pointed out. "Like being possessed, or something. I would keep your creepy factor on the down low, Danny, or at least, as best as you can."

"I'm _not _creepy!" Danny huffed, glowering a little at her. "I don't know where you and Tucker keep getting that idea from. Nobody I know has ever been scared of me." He rolled his eyes, although he also seemed to know what he was saying wasn't quite true. He'd noticed it a bit, lately, that he put people off and on edge, and honestly, it bothered him more than a little. He didn't want to be doing that, he didn't want to be chasing people away from him without meaning to.

But he wasn't creepy, right?

"Except for the transfer students." Tucker pointed out. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing dude, just something you need to keep under wraps. Ever since that fear aura or whatever it is that we decided to call it decided to start manifesting itself in your human form, you've been giving people around you the heebiejeebies. Well," he paused. "Except for me and Sam of course. But I wouldn't worry about it too much, dude, you just need to spend a little time getting a bit of a better handle on it."

"Yeah, I know." Danny sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's a little annoying, to be honest. Vlad doesn't have any of these problems."

"Vlad's had his ghost powers for twenty years." Sam noted. "He's probably already worked out all of his side effects. But Tucker's right, Danny, we don't want people getting the wrong idea about you. That's probably even more dangerous than if some people learned that Fenton and Phantom were the same person." She pointed out. "Your parents would be all too quick to believe that you're being possessed, and less quick to believe you're half-ghost and it's just you in there."

"True." Danny grimaced. That was something that he didn't want to happen. He wasn't sure how easy his parents would be to convince once they had already made up their minds. "But... I mean, I'm not really _that _creepy though, am I?" He asked, looking at his friends.

"No, of course not, Danny." Sam assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We're just being cautious because we're your friends." She told him. Of course, what she didn't say out loud was that there was a reason Dash Baxter hadn't been seeking him out lately, and that maybe, just maybe, there had been occasions when she had been just a little unnerved by him as well, though they were brief.

And then of course, there was the _thing _that she and Tucker had noticed, but hadn't figured out how to bring up with him yet.

"Yeah, okay." Danny grinned, finally polishing off his fries, tossing the carton in an empty garbage can. "But for now, let's not worry about any of that, and enjoy a few rounds of bowling. It feels like it's been forever since I've been able to let loose and have any fun." He said.

"Don't jinx it dude." Tucker warned him. "You don't have the best track record with that stuff."

* * *

It felt good for once, being able to rub Tucker's words back into his face, Danny thought to himself as he headed back home. He'd been able to enjoy himself properly, without a single ghost appearing. Maybe he would even be able to take the rest of the day off, at this rate! Grinning a little, he recalled that he still had to put Skulker back into the Ghost Zone before he forgot, and shifted his backpack on his shoulder a little as he headed into Fenton Works.

"Welcome back!" Maddie looked up as her son entered their home, smiling at him and setting aside the device that she was tinkering with, one that Danny recognized as the Fenton Ghost Gabber. "How was school, sweetie? Anything fun happen today?" She asked.

"Not much. Went bowling with Sam and Tucker after school." Danny told her, leaving out the part about the mandatory therapy sessions he had been given- and then skipped out on partway through the hour he was supposed to be spending with Jacqueline. Vaguely he realized that she might get in trouble for it, and fought back a cringe, hoping that this didn't turn out to be the case. "Is that the Ghost Gabber? I haven't seen you use that for awhile."

"Mmhm." Maddie nodded her head. "Your father and I decided to take another look at it. You might not know this, Danny, since most of the ghosts that come to Amity Park seem to be able to communicate in English, but ghosts have their own language. That's why we made it in the first place." She sighed, looking over at the device, a bit of a mournful look on her face. "Of course, it didn't work the first time around. It only ever seemed to pick up on what you said, and then repeated 'Fear Me'. But, I think with a few tweaks, we can fix it!"

**"Why the sudden interest?" **Danny asked, frowning a little, completely unaware that he had just slipped into ghost speak. "I thought you and dad had tossed that one into the garbage with other failures, like the Ghost Weasel."

It took a wealth of self control for Maddie not to flinch when she heard that _noise _come out of her own son's mouth. She recognized it quickly as ghost speak, harsh and indecipherable to human ears. He didn't even seem to know he was doing it, and it was a cause for deep concern for her, another thing to add on to the plate of worries she already had about her son. But instead of saying anything, because she knew she wouldn't get an answer, she put on her best smile.

"Oh well, sometimes revisiting failed inventions can bring us new knowledge." She told him. "There's no harm in it, at least."

Maybe she was just a little bit worried that whatever was going on with her son would cause him to slip into ghost speak permanently, and that she would never be able to understand him ever again. That was the last thing that she wanted, and although she couldn't for the life of her figure out where her son had picked up ghost, she wanted to be prepared for any eventuality that he would become unable to speak English. She knew of other cases, cases in which the language had managed to worm it's way inside the head of a human, and once there, could never really be forgotten. With all of the paranormal activity going on in Amity Park, it wasn't too strange that someone would be affected in such a manner.

She just wished it wasn't her own son. As if he didn't have enough problems already, she thought.

Maddie Fenton wasn't oblivious to how strange her son had gotten lately. The ghost speak was the least of her worries, to be honest. What worried Maddie most were the injuries that she had noticed her son had been getting lately, ones that appeared without explanation and vanished as quickly as they had come. She had all but given up asking after them, and she knew that she probably didn't even see all of the ones that even happened. Her gaze lingered a bit on the eyepatch her son was currently wearing, her lips tightening in a frown.

He'd offered no explanation about that one either, but had just shown up at dinner the previous night with it on, acting as if for all the world, nothing was wrong. She imagined it would be gone in a matter of days, perhaps even less time than that.

It was almost as if she didn't even know who her son was anymore.

Sometimes she didn't even know if she knew what her son was anymore, but that was a thought she quickly tried to push aside.

"We're going to have dinner in twenty minutes or so, Danny." Maddie told him after a moment. Her son had lately started eating less, and she wondered if it was due to puberty. He'd finally started to undergo his growth spurt, although it had taken awhile, as if it had been delayed by something. She knew that he was happy for it, at least, as he had always hated being the shortest amongst his friends.

"Okay, thanks!" Danny grinned. He still wasn't that hungry, but he could still grab a bite or two, he thought. He always heard that boys going through puberty ate more, but he guessed the reverse was possible as well. Aside from a quick breakfast and those fries from the Nasty Burger, he'd barely eaten anything today, and yet he didn't feel bothered by this. If he didn't have other things on his mind, it might even strike him as a bit odd.

Heading up to his room, he tossed aside his backpack, before recalling Skulker with a curse. Grabbing the Fenton Thermos, he turned himself intangible, falling through the floor and into the basement lab, which was currently empty. Hurrying over towards the portal, he quickly emptied the Thermos of it's contents. Switching over to Phantom, he quickly flew through the floors again back to his room, hiding the Fenton Thermos back in his backpack. It wouldn't do for his parents to find out that he was keeping the one that Phantom was thought to have stolen, after all.

Yawning a little, he rubbed his good eye, before falling back on his bed, deciding to catch up a little on sleep before dinner. Closing his eyes, he shut out all other thoughts about today, and drifted off before he knew it. It had been awhile since he had gotten any sleep, a nap would do him wonders. Hopefully, if today's good luck kept up, he would be able to get a proper night's sleep for a change and wouldn't end up drooling all over his desk at school come tomorrow morning.

He would figure out an exact plan on how to worm his way out of the therapy sessions later. After all, how hard could it be to convince a rookie that there was nothing wrong with him?


	3. Session Two

Author's Note: The next Session is here! Switching back over to Jacqueline's perspective once again. Thanks for all the feedback that you guys have given me so far! I will attempt to gift you with an OC centric fic that for once, isn't a horrible abomination as I know the fandom is sort of plagued with them. I hope you all enjoy this chapter as well, although it's a bit shorter than the last two. It didn't really need to be any longer, though, so I didn't see the need to drag it out.

Danny Phantom is not mine, but Jacqueline and Iliana Browning are.

* * *

Currently in Session

Session Two

* * *

He had never shown back up after the ghost attack was over. She had even waited for him to come back for over an hour, but it would seem as if Danny Fenton had taken the first chance he could get to ditch her.

It was more than a little annoying, to be honest, but Jacqueline was trying not to let it get to her. He didn't want to be there in the first place, after all, and she didn't like the idea of forcing people to do things against their will, even if it was only for his own good. Still, she couldn't help but be a little miffed about it at the end of the day, as petty as that seemed to her. He was her very first patient, and he had ditched her! That didn't exactly bode well for her future.

At the very least, Mr. Lancer seemed to understand- she didn't think she was going to be put at fault for the student she was supposed to be watching over vanishing on her. It seemed that he did that a lot, and a quick glance over his records confirmed that for her. Sometimes he would even go so far as to vanish from detention, the very moment the teacher supervising it turned their backs on him. It seemed keeping him in one place during class time was considered to be nothing short of a miracle.

She was still a little upset when she got back to her apartment, heaving a sigh and slumping her shoulders. "Today could have gone better." She mumbled to herself. Danny vanishing midway during their first session was one thing, but she still got chills when she recalled the glowing eyes and the strange language that she had caught him speaking, when she was sure that there was no one else in the room.

Danny Fenton, it seemed, was nothing short of an enigma. Reading his records had given her a picture of a very strange student, to be honest, and meeting him in person had only furthered that opinion of him. Still, he didn't seem like a bad kid overall, although she was certain that he wasn't a 'normal' kid either- which in itself, still was not a bad thing. Everyone had their own challenges and issues, and it was her job to get to the bottom of what was troubling Danny and causing him to act this way.

She sure hoped she was up to the task. She had to admit, she didn't think that the first student she would get walking through her door would be someone like Danny.

Deciding that she would make some coffee, and then go over the files once more, Jacqueline made her way to the kitchen, taking off the jacket of her suit and setting it aside. The suit had been a bit much, she decided- tomorrow she would dress a bit more casually. She had wanted to make a good first impression, however, well aware of her own babyface. She hoped that the students would take her seriously- she wasn't sure what she would do if they didn't.

Fixing her coffee, Jacqueline headed back over to her couch, sitting down on it. She had spent the whole weekend unpacking, with the help of her father, and she was pretty pleased how her new apartment had turned out. She was excited about living here, even with the reports of ghosts, because it would make the first time she had ever lived on her own. When she was in college, she was always rooming with somebody, so it was nice to experience a little independent living for a change.

"Oh right, the files." Jacqueline said, picking up her coffee cup and taking a small sip, before setting it back down and fetching them from her briefcase. Adjusting her glasses, she looked at the first one in her hands, the one marked 'Fenton, Daniel.' It was by far the largest of the files that she had, and was nearly stuffed to the brim with papers and reports, records of problem behaviors, punishments and detentions. No doubt that there were some teachers who had already written him off as a problem child, but she didn't really think of him that way.

Misguided, maybe. But it was really too early to pass any judgements on him. In order to do that, she first needed to speak to him more- and she sure hoped that he wasn't planning on ditching the rest of their scheduled sessions like he had half way through today's.

Sipping her coffee a little, she paused for a moment, noticing something from his freshman records. Before his behavior had taken a sharp nosedive, starting with being banned from handling any fragile school equipment, after dropping a rather absurd amount of beakers. "Two weeks taken off school after a lab accident?" She quirked her brow, frowning a little. The Fentons, she recalled, were supposed to be ghost hunters- but also inventors of a sorts. Flipping through his file, she attempted to find more details about this lab accident, but nothing showed itself.

It worried her a little, wondering what kind of parents the Fentons were to allow their son to have something like that happen to him. Then again, it could have simply been an accident, on that had been unpredictable in all respects- she really shouldn't judge them before meeting them, and she had a sneaking suspicion that she would someday in the future. After all, many issues for students began at home, and meeting his parents might shed some light on some of them. There was nothing to indicate that his home life was anything but normal, and seeing as his sister, Jasmine, seemed so well adjusted, she was doubtful that abuse could be the cause of Danny's problems, or his injuries- but then again, she wasn't ready to rule it out entirely just yet. _That _would be a mistake.

Frowning, setting aside Danny's file, which she had already gone through several times, she turned to the other ones that she had brought home with her. 'Manson, Samantha', read the next one, and she knew this was one of Danny's two best friends- and his girlfriend, it seemed, although this appeared to be recent. Opening it up, she scoured through it, noticing that this Samantha appeared to be regarded as something of a problem child too- although in the more traditional sense. Missed classes, tardy problems, protesting on school grounds without a permit, stealing the frogs that were to be dissected during freshman year... and many other violations that appeared to be tied to activism of one kind or another. Clearly, a girl who was deeply concerned about a variety of issues, and someone she knew she would probably need to talk to at one point as well.

The next was 'Foley, Tucker', and this was Danny's other best friend, who other teachers seemed to describe as his partner in crime. He had been caught altering grades once, and had records of doing suspicious things around the girl's bathroom, but nothing that really jumped out at her, aside from again, various unexcused absences and tardies. She would likely need to have a chat with him as well, she thought, setting this file aside, on top of the others.

'Fenton, Jasmine', read the next one- Danny's older sister, and the golden girl of Casper High School. Where her brother's records appeared to be a series of failures and disappointments, Jasmine's records appeared to be filled with praise and glowing recommendations from teachers, records of her various accomplishments. Top of her class, and one of the brightest students in school, it seemed as if she would be able to get into any college that she would desire, and yet, according to a survey they had done recently, it seemed that her goal was a local community college with a psychology program. This seemed to confuse and baffle teachers, and Jacqueline couldn't help but wonder if it was connected to her brother in some way. Surely, if she had a younger brother that was having issues, she wouldn't want to leave him behind either.

The next two she had taken after some careful consideration. 'Baxter, Dash' and 'Gray, Valerie'. They both seemed to have some kind of connection to Danny Fenton, the former seeming to have bullied him up until recently. She would have to talk to him as well, no doubt there were some issues that needed to be worked out with this Baxter boy, separate from his ties to Danny if he felt the need to bully other students. Perhaps self esteem issues, or being weak to peer pressure- at any rate, she would get to the bottom of that to be sure. It seemed that the bullying had died down lately, and she was curious as to what happened to cause this as well- usually in these continuous situations, some kind of radical power shift was needed to change the relationship dynamic.

And then there was Valerie Gray, who seemed to have numerous problems attached to her record as well- though not so many as Danny did, rather, she seemed to be tied with Sam. Again, there was a pattern of unexcused absences, tardies, and a record of unexplained injuries gotten from who knows where. It seemed that like Tucker, she was employed part time at the local fast food joint- The Nasty Burger, which was an odd name for a restaurant, Jacqueline couldn't help but think. It appeared that in freshman year, she had been a part of the A List crowd, until her father had gone into massive debt, something about his state of the art security system failing and causing Axiom Labs to be trashed. Since then, she had dropped to the bottom of the social ladder.

It didn't seem as if she was connected to Danny's group, although she shared many of the same problems. She couldn't help but shake the feeling that she was tied to this somehow, and she wanted to speak with her as well. She would have a full schedule ahead of her, at any rate.

Finishing off her coffee, she placed down the last file on the table, frowning a little. She had a chat with Mr. Lancer while they were both cooped up in the teacher's lounge, and it would seem that while he was concerned for Danny, especially for his grades, he didn't think that he was as much of a problem student that some of the other teachers seemed to. He seemed like a reasonable man to her, although one who probably wished that he didn't teach at a school in a city infested with ghosts.

At the very least, Jacqueline hadn't seen one yet, and she hoped that the streak kept up for awhile. She kind of doubted it would- after all, apparently Casper High, for whatever reason, was a hot spot for ghost attacks, so no doubt she would have to deal with them at some point. Maybe she should go visit the Fentons a little earlier than planned, if only to get from them some idea how these ghosts worked. She didn't doubt that they were real- not with the way the city seemed to be dedicated to defending itself from them. Even the mayor, Vlad Masters, seemed to think that ghosts were a real threat.

Speaking of the mayor, she still found it to be a bit odd that a man as rich and powerful as Vlad Masters would be content to be a mayor of such a small town. Surely, a man like him, if he wanted to get into politics, would have gone for something a little more grandiose? It just struck her as a little odd, though perhaps the man had some kind of reason for it. Who knows? She had never met him, after all.

Getting up, Jacqueline walked back over to the kitchen, putting her cup in the sink and rinsing it out, before she put it back into the dishwasher. She would probably need to go out and get some groceries before dinner, she thought, glancing outside. The sun was already going down, she had stayed at the school longer than she thought she had. Her stomach growled a little, and she nodded her head, agreeing with it that it was time to get something to eat. Maybe she would treat herself today, due to it being her first day of her new job, and go out to eat. Perhaps she should investigate this 'Nasty Burger' place and see what it was like, since, despite it's name, it seemed to more or less be the local hangout for the students she was in charge of.

Deciding to do just that, Jacqueline quickly changed out of her suit, and put on a comfy sweater and some slacks, making a rather futile attempt at brushing her poofy hair. Heaving a sigh, she grabbed her house keys and her purse, and headed out the door, locking it behind her. She didn't think it would be hard to find the place, it didn't seem to be far from the school, which was within walking distance from her apartment. She hadn't really gotten the chance yet since she moved in to familiarize herself with her neighborhood, so perhaps now was a good chance to do this.

And Amity Park _did _seem to be a nice city, even with all the craziness about ghosts. It didn't seem like such a bad place for her first job, and in all honesty, she was glad that she had gotten one so quickly. She thought she would have been searching forever for a good student counseling job, so this was nothing short of a godsend.

Finding the Nasty Burger wasn't hard at all, and before long, Jacqueline had left it with a small soda and a burger and some fries in hand. Of course, there was the minor annoyance that the cashier on duty had treated her like a child, but she had put up with it- she didn't have much of a choice in the matter, after all. Maybe someday having a babyface would become a benefit to her, but today was not that day, clearly.

At least the food smelled good, she thought, taking a sip of her soda. That was promising. She hadn't seen either Tucker Foley or Valerie Gray working there, perhaps they weren't on shift at the moment. Heading back down the sidewalk to her apartment, she made a mental note to go and see about scheduling some appointments with them tomorrow morning. Since they were do desperate to figure out what was going on with Danny, she didn't imagine that she would have all that much trouble in doing so.

And that was when a figure seemed to all but walk out from a building in front of her- no, not walk- it _floated_. Letting out a loud yelp, Jacqueline took several steps backwards, before tripping over her own feet, and landing rather unceremoniously on her rear end. Her cup of soda went flying, and to make matters worse, promptly landed on her stomach, spilling it's contents all over her.

"Oh man, I am so sorry!" The voice caught her ears, and for a moment, she entirely forgot about her dilemma with the soda, as she found herself unable to look away from the figure floating in front of her.

Oh dear, she did expect that she would see a ghost sooner or later, but she didn't expect her first one to be _Phantom_.

Amity Park's most controversial ghost fighter, Phantom was a ghost himself, although he appeared to be somewhat more human than the rest of his kind. She found herself unable to take her gaze away from him, fixed for a moment, on his glowing green eyes, though one seemed to be covered with his snow white hair today. He wore a modified black and white hazmat suit of some type, and there was a faint ghostly glow to him, that gave away his true nature, if the floating and the glowing eyes for some reason managed not to do that.

Dimly, she realized that he had spoken to her, and blinked a little, wondering what it was that he could have said to her. Was he asking her if she was okay. "I'm... fine." She said after a moment, finally taking the spilled soda cup and picking it back up, setting it to the side for now. It was totally empty now, all of the contents either on her sweater or on the ground. At the very least, it hadn't gotten to her food, she wasn't really psyched about the prospect of eating a soggy burger and fries.

"Are you sure?" Phantom asked, frowning a little, landing on the ground in front of her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spook you... _miss_." He said, and there was something about his tone on the last word that struck her as a bit odd. Nevertheless, the ghost offered her a hand, doing his best to put on a friendly smile. "I can make it up to you. I'm sorry about your soda." He paused then, frowning a bit. "And your sweater. I sure hope that can wash out."

"I'm sure it will." Jacqueline said after a moment, staring at his hand. Did he want her to take it? Should she take it? Was it a good idea to take the hand of a ghost? Wasn't this how people got spirited away?

Shaking off her thoughts, slowly, Jacqueline reached out to take his hand, and he hauled her to her feet. She shuddered a little- he was ice cold, even colder than Danny had been! She wasn't sure why she had thought of her wayward student at this time, perhaps it was simply because he and Phantom appeared to be of an age. Briefly, she couldn't help but wonder how it was a teenage boy of Phantom's age could have died, but quickly pushed such thoughts aside- that was much too depressing for her tastes.

"I am really sorry though. I didn't mean to startle you. I was just on nightly ghost patrol." He told her, seeming a little sheepish, a faint tint of green rising to his cheeks. Was he _blushing_? Ghosts could blush?

"No, no, it's okay." Jacqueline said again, shaking her head. She didn't exactly want Phantom to feel indebted to her for any reason. Leaning down, she picked up the soda cup, before scooping up her bag of food, tossing the cup into a nearby trash can. "It's not a problem. Soda's bad for you anyways."

"Still, you did pay for it, and not to have it end up all over your shirt." Phantom frowned. Of all the places to run into the brand new school therapist, it had to be while he was doing a routine ghost patrol.

"It's fine, _really_." Jacqueline insisted. "Sometimes things happen. It only cost a dollar, anyways." She told him, doing her best to smile. In all honesty, her heart was beating a mile a minute- she was talking to a ghost! And one who had been declared Amity Park's Ghost Enemy Number One at some point, according to her research. She wasn't sure what she should do in this situation. What if he got mad at her? She didn't stand a chance against a ghost, much less one like Phantom.

"Well, if you're sure." Phantom said, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't want to be too pushy here- he could clearly already see that he was making her nervous. A quick glance around revealed that Jacqueline's ghost, Iliana, was floating nearby, keeping a silent, wordless watch on him. Iliana knew, but ghosts often had a sixth sense about such things. It didn't really matter thought, seeing as the two sisters couldn't communicate with each other- and in all honesty, he thought that was kind of sad.

"I am." Jacqueline nodded her head. Her head was suddenly filled with questions, all about the ghosts of Amity Park and about Phantom himself, but she thought it might be best not to ask them. She didn't want this meeting to go on any longer than it had to. There was a chill to the air that hadn't been there before, and a tension along with it. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, a cold sweat on the back of her neck. Although for all the world, Phantom was being nice and apologetic to her, she couldn't help but feel terrified deep down, and it was a miracle that she hadn't just ran away screaming.

"Well, alright then." Phantom nodded his head, floating back upwards. He shouldn't stay for much longer, he thought, the poor woman looked as if she wanted to bolt. It must have been related to his fear aura, he thought, even though he had it more or less switched off. It was far more potent in his ghost form, however, and for someone who had never seen a ghost before, well... it might be a little bit much for them. "Again, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you someday if I can."

Without another word, the white haired ghost flew off, and Jacqueline finally let out her breath, her shoulders slumping. All at once, the tension in the air vanished, and the temperature warmed up. She could feel the fear wash out of her body all at once, as if it hadn't entirely been hers to begin with, but was rather induced and forced into her. Surely, none of Phantom's actions had been scary- rather he had been polite and charming!

That was the second time today she had been irrationally afraid of someone, Jacqueline noted, heaving a sigh. First it had been with Danny, and then it had been with Phantom. Was this going to become a habit of hers? She thought she had finally conquered this issue a long time ago, so why was it coming back right now? She didn't want to fall back into this again, she thought she was better than this.

Jacqueline's brow creased with worry, but slowly, it all washed out of her body. For a moment, she could almost feel a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but she quickly dismissed it as her imagination. It was just the change in location, most likely, that had brought the fear of unknown people back to life- and it had only happened with two people so far, one of them who was a ghost, so perhaps that was more or less the natural reaction. She hadn't felt anything around Mr. Lancer or any of the other people that she had talked to, and she wasn't exactly looking over her shoulder in paranoia anymore.

It was just an adjustment thing, she decided. Taking in and letting out a deep breath, she nodded her head, convincing herself of this matter. She should probably hurry back to her apartment anyways, and deal with her soaked sweater. The good news was, as she had told Phantom, it was washable, which was a good thing, since it was one of her favorites.

"You're okay, Quin." She whispered to herself, clenching and unclenching her fists. Her food was getting cold as well, so she had better hurry on back. Finally finding her legs able to move, she made her way back down the sidewalk, heading back to her home. And true to her words, despite her sudden encounter with someone who had sent chills up her spine, she didn't find herself looking over her shoulder.

It was a bit odd, really. Sometimes she felt as if there was someone already watching her back for her. Once she realized that, she was finally able to slowly stop being so afraid anymore, not constantly worrying that the next person she met would have been the people who had murdered her sister. She never really knew the reason for the sudden feeling of relief that she had gained, but it had never gone away. Sometimes, she liked to imagine it was Iliana watching over her, although that was just plain childish of her.

She didn't want to go back to that time, never again. And although the men had never been caught, she had finally managed to overcome her fears- and part of that was why she had decided to get into psychology in the first place. Someone had helped her, so she had decided that she would return the favor. It was what her sister would want her to do, she thought.

And this kid, this Danny Fenton kid, although strange, clearly had some kind of problem that he needed to work out. And she was sure that with time and effort, she could help him- that was what she was here to do, after all, to help people! She was a bit worried that some of the students would doubt her, not just because she looked so childish, and because she was a rookie, but also because of their last therapist, this Penelope Spectra, who had betrayed their trust, and had only served to make everyone all the more depressed. But even if that were the case, she was determined to get through to them, not wanting them to be under the impression that all mental health professionals were like this Spectra, only there to cause them more pain and suffering. It wasn't like that at all!

"Okay." Jacqueline said to herself, finally finding herself grinning again. She would make a battle plan then, for getting to the root of Danny's issues. He seemed like he would be something of a challenge, but that was all the more reason for her to help! Besides, it was the least she could do for him, considering that she had actually been afraid of him today and all- something she still felt guiltily over.

What was with his glowing eyes, anyways, though? Perhaps it was some kind of mutation- his parents worked with that weird glowing green stuff, didn't they? Ectoplasm, was that what it was called? She had mentioned it to Mr. Lancer, after some consideration, still half convinced that she had only been seeing things, and while he said he had noticed it, to her great relief- and confusion- he said it didn't seem to impact the boy's vision, so he was never too worried about it.

It surely was odd though. They glowed, almost like Phantom's had- well, not quite like Phantom's. Where Danny's were a dim glow, Phantom's were like a blazing fire, almost.

"I _still _can't believe that I met a ghost." Jacqueline said, shaking her head. "That's _crazy_. How the media isn't jumping on the story of ghosts being real, I'll never know." She said, setting down her fast food bag on the kitchen table.

Still, that said... she kind of hoped that she wouldn't meet Phantom again. She didn't like the fearful sensation that he brought with him, however nice he seemed.

So why did she get the oddest feeling that she was going to be seeing a whole lot of him in the very near future?


	4. Interlude Two

Author's Note: So I actually ended up writing this one a little ahead of schedule, so here you guys go, the next chapter of Sessions! I hope you all enjoy it! We're back to Danny's perspective of events once again. Also, I forgot to mention this before, but** bold text** is ghost speak, and that's pretty much how it will work for any other stories I right? Good thing to keep in mind.

Danny Phantom is not mine, but Jacqueline and Iliana are.

* * *

Currently in Session

Interlude Two

* * *

"Danny, we need to talk."

The lanky sixteen year old half-ghost groaned- he knew exactly what that expression and that tone meant. "Come on Jazz,_ right now_? Can't a guy eat his breakfast in peace?" He asked her, grumbling a little as he set his spoon back into his bowl of cereal.

"I like to corner you where you can't escape. Sometimes it's the only way I can get you to talk to me." Jazz observed, taking a seat across from him, her lips pulled into a tight frown. "I found out from Mr. Lancer yesterday that you were supposed to start seeing the new school therapist. _Supposed _to being the word here."

"I did go see her." Danny rolled his eyes. "Besides Jazz, you and me both need that I don't need therapy. Remember what happened the last time I saw a shrink?"

Jazz couldn't help but cringe a little- of course she had- and it had nearly sunk her brother into a deep depression, and gotten her killed. However- "That was different, Danny, and you know it. That was a ghost, this is a real, qualified therapist." Well, a _rookie_, but nonetheless a qualified one. "Someone who can actually help you."

"I don't _need _help, Jazz." Danny rolled his eyes. "The only reason the teachers are worried about me in the first place is just because they don't understand the root cause of my behavior. And I don't exactly want the whole school to know I'm half-ghost, and that the reason I'm constantly late to class is because I'm fighting ghosts." He told her, raising a brow. "Kind of trying to keep a secret identity here."

"I think it might be good for you to see a therapist regularly." Jazz said. Sensing her brother was about to protest this, she held up a finger, cutting him off. "No, let me finish here. You're doing a very high stress job, Danny, one that nobody is forcing you to do but you. I'm your older sister, and I worry about you. Even if you don't talk about ghost hunting and such, surely there are some issues that you would like to get off your chest, some worries. I'm just saying that you shouldn't be so quick to knock this."

"Oh come on Jazz." Danny rolled his eyes. "First of all, I don't exactly have the time for regular therapy sessions. I barely got three hours of sleep last night because Technus decided to take me on a wild goose chase throughout the city. I don't need someone to talk to- that's what I have Sam and Tucker for. And even you, sometimes."

"But there are things you haven't been talking to us about, aren't there?" Jazz asked.

"Well, if I'm not talking about those supposed _things_- which, by the way, are also non-existent- to you guys, who know my secret, why on Earth would I discuss them with someone who has no clue?" Danny asked. "Besides, I don't exactly think Miss Browning is all that good with ghosts to begin with." He said, leaving off the fact that she was constantly being haunted by one.

"All I'm saying Danny, is that you should give it a chance. And not ditch her halfway through like you did last time." Jazz told him, giving her little brother a look. "Please, Danny?"

"No, Jazz." He stubbornly insisted. "I'm not doing this. I'm going to convince Miss Browning to get off my back, and that's going to be it." He told her, pointing his spoon at her. "End of story."

Jazz sighed, leaning back in her chair. She just wasn't going to get through to him, was she? She knew that her brother was being stubborn, but honestly she thought he was being a little ridiculous. She was only telling him this for his own good! Maybe if she had a chat with this Miss Browning, she could convince her to stick with Danny, even when he tried to brush her off.

"Alright Danny, if you insist." She said finally, standing up. "Just try to keep my suggestion in mind, okay? It wouldn't hurt to have someone to talk to you know." She told him.

"Un-huh." Danny said simply, giving his sister a blank look. "Can I finish my breakfast now?"

"Sure, Danny." Jazz rolled her eyes. "Go on and eat up. I'm glad to see you actually eating something for a change."

"I eat plenty." Danny huffed, taking a spoonful of cereal. "It's just that I'm not as hungry as I used to be anymore. I don't know, maybe it's some kind of weird half-ghost puberty thing."

"I hope that's all it is." Jazz said lightly, frowning a little, not quite convinced. She had a feeling that Sam and Tucker knew something about this, but they had never told her- nor, it seemed, had they even told _Danny_. Speaking of people she needed to talk to, she probably needed to pull one of them aside and have a chat with them about this matter as well. She didn't like being kept out of the loop, especially when it was in concerns to her brother.

"Promise." Danny gave her a small grin. "Look Jazz, I know you worry about me, but I've more or less got a handle on this. And my grades are getting better- a little, at least." He rolled his eyes then. "At least, they do when I don't accidentally spend half my essays rambling on in ghost speak, but I'm not so sure what to do about that. I don't think Vlad has that problem at least, so I think it'll probably go away on it's own eventually."

"I hope so." Jazz frowned. "You know I can always look over your homework to double check for ghost language."

"I'll try to remember that." Danny laughed.

"Good." Jazz smiled then, walking over and kissing him on the top of his head, smiling a little when he pretended to gag. "Anyways, I've got to run on to school. I offered to help Mr. Lancer with his filing before class this morning."

"I'd tell you to have fun, but fun and filing are not two things that ever go together." Danny smirked. "See you later, Jazz."

"Later, Danny." Jazz told him, leaving the kitchen. The filing thing of course, was a lie- she really just wanted to get to Casper High before the rest of the students came, so she could have a private chat with Miss Browning all about her brother. He would probably be mad at her if he ever found out, but it really was for his own good- she wouldn't be doing it otherwise.

* * *

"Well, well, well, look who showed up on time today." Sam couldn't help but dryly observe as Danny sauntered into the classroom, a sheepish grin on his face as he heard her. "Nothing get in the way of your arrival for a change?"

"Not today, no." Danny grinned, plopping down in the seat next to her. "I guess I'm having a little bit of luck this week. Well, I mean, there was the whole Technus thing last night, but aside from that... I'm going to try and enjoy this while it lasts."

"Given your track record, this could all be over by lunchtime." Tucker added. "Well, I said that the last time and I ended up with my foot in my mouth, but I can't say that I was too unhappy about that. It's nice to actually have time to hang out with you for a change Danny, and," dropping his voice, he grinned a little. "...as fun as going ghost hunting with you can be sometimes, I still prefer doing regular teenager things over them."

"Agreed, trust me." Danny rolled his eyes. "It feels like _forever _since I've just been able to kick back and relax."

"Yeah well, at least you've gotten Dash off your back lately too." Tucker grinned. "How did you manage that anyways? You show him a bit of that ghostly strength?" He asked, keeping his tone to a whisper to make sure that none of their other classmates overheard.

**"No, I can't say I really understand what happened there. One day he was bullying me like always, and then the next-" **He stopped, looking at the blank faces of his friends, before practically smacking his own, groaning. **"I'm talking in ghost again, aren't I?"**

"Yes." Sam said frankly, guessing from the context and her boyfriend's expression as to what his question was. "Maybe you should make it your goal to do something about that Danny. You should consider yourself lucky that you haven't slipped up in front of your parents yet. I'm not sure your dad would recognize it, but as for your _mother_- well, Mrs. Fenton is another matter entirely."

**"I don't think I have." **Danny continued, unaware still that he hadn't switched back to English yet. **"She was working on the Ghost Gabber yesterday, though, so I'm a little wary that they might have noticed something. Still, they've brought back old inventions from the past before, so it's not like this is anything too new."**

"We still have no idea what you're saying, Danny." Tucker pointed out. "Is this another one of your episodes?" He asked. Sometimes Danny slipping into ghost barely lasted for longer than a sentence, but at other times- well, once he'd spent three hours speaking nothing but ghost, and he had clearly been getting to his wit's end by the end of it.

**"I sure hope not." **He grumbled, before realizing he was probably still speaking in Ghost. **"Hang on. Let's hope my writing's a little better than my English."** He told them, grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, quickly scribbling down what he had tried to tell them about the Ghost Gabber earlier, before handing it over to Sam. **"Please tell me that's in English, at least."**

"It's hard to tell past your crappy handwriting, but this does seem to be English." Sam noted- she had heard him say the word 'English' in Ghost enough now to recognize it, reading it over before passing it over to Tucker. "She broke out the Ghost Gabber again, huh? That could be a sign she's heard you speak in ghost, you know, Danny. If I were you, I would keep your guard up. And try really hard not to use it around Miss Browning either. Who knows what a therapist would think of you talking like this."

**"Believe me, I don't want to find out." **Danny rolled his eyes, frowning a little. **"She would probably **think I have some kind of weird disorder or something. They already tried to test me for dyslexia, after all, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit."

"Oh hey, you're back." Tucker noted, crossing his fingers. "Let's hope you stay that way, Danny. I like being able to understand you. Hey though, if your mom fixes the Ghost Gabber, maybe you could swipe it from her so that we can follow what you're saying when you slip into Ghost."

Letting out a small sigh of relief, Danny gave Tucker an unconvinced look. "_Maybe_. If she actually has heard me talk like that, she probably might find it a little suspect. Like Sam says, I should probably try to keep this on as low a profile as I possibly can." Danny noted.

"Speaking of therapists, don't you have another session with her this afternoon?" Sam asked, quirking a brow. "Are you going to go, or are you going to skip it?"

"No, I'm going to go." Danny sighed. "I just need to convince her there's nothing wrong with me. Make her think I'm just a lazy student or something, but certainly, not someone in need of therapy. Jazz tried to talk me into keeping up with them this morning, but I have to say that I'm not the least bit interested in that. I really don't need having a pesky therapist trying to 'fix' me when I'm not really broken added to the list of my troubles."

"She means well, though." Sam noted. "You shouldn't be too hard on her."

"Yeah, I know." Danny admitted after a moment. "She's just concerned about me because I'm her little brother." He said. "Still, I'm never going to say that out loud to her. She would _never _let it go."

"Ah yes, you have to play the role of the annoyed, uncaring little brother." Sam observed, giving him a wry smile. "Well, don't be too mean to the poor dear. She doesn't _exactly _look like she's all that courageous."

"She kind of reminds me of a mouse." Tucker said, laughing a little. "It's like they searched far and low to find a therapist that was the exact opposite of Spectra in hopes that everything would turn out better that way."

"Yeah well, I'll try." Danny assured them. "Speaking of which, I saw her last night, while on patrol. We just briefly crossed paths, although I do sort of owe her a new soda now. Do you think she would find it weird if I showed up at today's session with a spare one to give her? The old 'the vending machine gave me two' trick?"

"Seems like it would fly to me." Tucker shrugged his shoulders. "What did you do, cause her to spill her drink all over herself? After all, you are just such a frightening ghost." He rolled his eyes, a note of sarcasm on his voice. Of course, he wasn't going to tell his friend that sometimes, he really was honest to God intimidating, because he didn't think it would go over all that well with him. Besides, it was only something that happened on occasion- in all other circumstances, Danny was just as dorky and as nonthreatening as he was.

"Sort of. I think I just made her jump." Danny told them, rubbing the back of his neck. "Phased out of a building right in front of her. I apologized and everything, and she seemed okay but- she did seem a little scared anyways. I guess she's just not really used to ghosts and everything. I'm... not really sure why she took a job in Amity Park though, if that's the case."

"Most people think we're all crazy, or that the whole ghost thing is just some part of a massive PR stunt to attract tourists." Sam shrugged her shoulders. "A lot of people are just natural born skeptics, Danny, and they won't believe in things like ghosts until they're right in front of them. Kind of like your sister used to be."

"I guess if you live in Amity Park long enough, you sort of forget that the rest of the world isn't plagued by constant ghost attacks." Tucker added.

"True enough." Danny laughed a bit, quickly growing quiet when the bell rang, signaling that class would be starting soon. The students who had been lingering outside in the hall to chat filed their way into the classroom, and soon enough, Mr. Lancer showed up to begin homeroom.

One of the students who wander in after the bell was Dash Baxter, taking his sweet time as usual. One of the perks of being a football player, you were allowed to wander into class awhile after the bell rung. He took a seat in his chair, his gaze briefly darting over towards Danny as he did so, though he looked away the second that the half ghost caught it.

Danny frowned a little, wondering about that. Dash had been acting strange around him lately, and he had no idea what the cause was. Did he maybe suspect something? He sure hoped not, because Dash Baxter was one of the last people in the world he wanted to find out his secret. Sure, he had helped him in the alternate timeline from when Freakshow had exposed him, but who knew if that would remain true in this one. Danny really wasn't going to take any chances.

Maybe he should confront Dash about it later, see what the problem was. They were more or less forced to take home economics together anyways, and had been paired up as cooking partners, much as both boys protested this. At the very least, the course was only a month long, but a month was still far too long for Danny's liking.

Come to think of it, Dash had been nervous around him since the start of that class, and he wondered if it had something to do with it. Thinking back on it, it didn't seem like it, however- rather it seemed that this behavior had started before that and it was only in this class that he had really noticed it. It wasn't that Danny minded not being bullied- on the contrary, it made his life easier, but there was something about Dash's sudden change of attitude towards him that put him ill at ease.

It sort of reminded him how newcomers to Casper High, and to Amity Park reacted as a whole around him. He had been extra cautious when he had gone to see Jacqueline, and had made sure his fear aura was under wraps so that he wouldn't creep her out, but he did know that however much he suppressed it, it did kind of leak through to people who had never been to Amity Park before, and therefore had no resistance to ghosts. Over time and constant ghost attacks, most of the populace of Amity Park had built up a sort of resistance to a lot of the regular ghost's fear auras.

Sam had joked about him scaring away transfer students before, but it was true that he did that- and he was aware of them. It made Danny feel kind of awful, to be honest- he didn't want to freak anyone out, even by accident. He really had to figure out how to hide it one hundred percent of the time, because he knew that Vlad sure didn't have this problem. Oh sure, he gave off the aura of a slimy sleazeball, but he was also a politician, so that sort of came with the territory.

He mulled over this a little, drumming the butt of his pencil on his desk as he dimly listened to Mr. Lancer go on about the upcoming dance that Saturday. He had already promised to take Sam, however much that he didn't really want to go. The last time he had gone to a dance, after all well- it had been quite the _roaring _affair.

Oh, that was a good one, he would have to remember that one for the next time he dealt with Aragon.

He didn't notice that Dash's gaze had turned back towards him, the jock glancing at him from out of the corner of his eyes. Lately Dash had begun to regret his choice of sitting towards the front of his class, since it meant that he couldn't keep a wary eye on what Fenton was doing. He didn't like being where he couldn't see the lanky raven haired teen, and as strange as that sounded, it was true- because lately, Dash Baxter had noticed that Danny Fenton was actually immensely _horrifying_.

He wasn't sure when it had first really registered for him, but over time, he gradually realized that he had begun to avoid Danny Fenton, as if he were the plague. That was unlike him, after all, Danny was his favorite punching bag, his stress relief after a bad game or a bad grade. He was weak, puny, and utterly unremarkable and-

_terrifying._

It was like he was watching him all the time- which was absurd, seeing as right now Danny wasn't paying the least bit of attention to him. He was frantically scribbling in his notebook instead, occasionally grinning to himself and overall looking pleased. He didn't seem even remotely intimidating! And yet... here Dash was, not entirely wanting to take his eyes off of him, because he was worried that the moment he did, something terrible would happen to him.

He always got the feeling that there was something lingering around Danny, something that caused him to feel this way- but he didn't know what that was. When he tried to think about it, it escaped his memory. Forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the lanky teen, Dash turned back towards their teacher, barely hearing Mr. Lancer reminding them all to be on their best behavior at the school dance that weekend. He cringed, realizing that he had all but forgotten about it, and hadn't even gone about asking anyone to the dance.

Who would he take anyways? He knew that Star and Kwan were tight, which was great, Dash couldn't be more happy for them. Maybe he could ask Paulina- but, no, she would probably hold out hope of asking the ghost boy to the dance until the last second. It wouldn't happen though, so Dash just considered waiting until she had given up, and asking her then.

Suddenly, Dash froze, his thoughts grinding to a sudden halt. A bead of cold sweat trickled down his cheek, and his breath caught in his throat. It was as if, all at once, the atmosphere in the room had gotten twice as heavy, and twice as cold. Even his letterman jacket couldn't keep out the chill he was feeling. His heart pounded in his chest as this all too familiar sensation seeped through him, and he suddenly knew exactly what the cause was.

Slowly taking a shaking glance back behind him, to where Danny Fenton was sitting, still engaged in scribbling in his notebook, not paying the jock the least bit of mind, Dash quickly wished that he hadn't.

_They were there._

It was as if they had slipped back into Dash's memory without him even noticing, the great, inky black things that were coiled around Danny Fenton. They were all looking at him, every single one of them, sharp gazes boring into him. The snakelike creatures writhed around Danny's body, coiling harmlessly around him, and though they would move, they never took their gaze off of Dash.

Shutting his eyes tight, Dash forced himself to look away, grasping the edges of his desk, pleading for the things to go away again, to fade from sight like they always did, and fade from his memory as well. What the hell was wrong with Danny Fenton!? This wasn't normal, no matter how you looked at it. There was no explanation for why these things, these monsters, always seemed to coil about him.

And then, all at once, the tension was gone, and Dash blinked, suddenly feeling more relaxed. What had he even just been doing? He had been thinking about who to take to the school dance and then... what? Frowning, he shook his head, muttering underneath his breath about if he was going crazy or not, and turned back towards the blackboard.

Danny, meanwhile, blinked, briefly glancing up towards Dash. He could have sworn the jock had just been looking at him, but he guessed not. Frowning, he shrugged his shoulders, and grinned triumphantly down at the page before him. After his first dragon pun, others had come to him in a rush, and now he had a whole bunch of witty one liners to use if Aragon and his medieval ghosts ever came after him again. He still didn't understand why Sam and Jazz said that this was a waste of time- they _clearly _didn't understand how important witty one liners were in battle. At least Tucker appreciated them.

And then in an all too familiar sensation, a wisp of cold mist escaped from his mouth and he groaned. Another ghost? Who was it this time, Johnny 13? Youngblood again? He hoped at least it wasn't Skulker, two days in a row was a bit too much.

And that's when he heard it, the sound of a scream that he knew nobody else was able to hear, a ghastly sound that echoed through his eardrums- and was also filled with terror. His blue eyes went wide as he shot up from his desk, catching the attention of everyone in class. Glancing over at Sam and Tucker, he silently told them to grab his things before they left class, and he dashed out, not even having the time to spare an explanation for Mr. Lancer, who had his mouth open already to give him another dry remark about his 'constant toilet use' or something like that.

He did indeed duck in the toilet, but only so he could shift into Phantom form where nobody was looking. He knew where that unearthly shriek had come from, and he had a good guess as to where it had come from too- but why would a ghost be attacking their new therapist?

Wait.

New _therapist_.

Oh _no_. Not her- _anyone _but her. He would take dealing with Plasmius again over _her_. But he knew it _was _her, and he knew that he would have to deal with her. So when he phased into the office and saw the floating, inky black form of Penelope Spectra hovering over a terrified Jacqueline, he wasn't the least bit surprised.

"Well, well, well." Spectra turned, an amused smile on her face. "If it isn't my favorite little fount of misery. But, I don't have time for you today, ghost kid. Bertrand?" She said, her gaze only slightly shifting towards her currently formless companion, as she raised a finger, pointing towards Danny.

"'Sic 'em."


	5. Session Three

Author's Note: Yo, the next session is here! And we get our antagonist reveals for this story, one of which should be obvious given the very nature of the story itself, and the other perhaps less so- and surely, not one that I've used before! I am excited about writing them because they seem really fun to deal with, and yet I've never used them? Oops!

Anyways, Danny Phantom does not belong to me, although Jacqueline and Iliana do. Thanks to all of those of you who read and reviewed last chapter, I hope you enjoy this one just as much!

* * *

**Currently in Session**

Session Three

* * *

Jacqueline was in her office bright and early that morning, grateful to learn that Danny's little disappearing act from yesterday hadn't caused her new coworkers to think any less of her. Just as Mr. Lancer had, they simply shrugged their shoulders and made a small noise of disgust, in some cases, indicating that Danny Fenton had a tendency to vanish _a lot_.

She hoped she would have better luck with him today, she thought, as she began to straighten out her files, replacing the ones that she had taken home with her yesterday, locking them securely away. Her head was somewhat still abuzz with thoughts regarding her first ghost encounter, speaking of things from yesterday, with Phantom of all ghosts! He wasn't quite as she had expected him to be- when she had heard about his reputation, and about how powerful that he was supposed to be, she had thought that he would be a little more _imposing_. Instead, what she had gotten appeared to be a tall, lanky teenage boy that glowed- nothing that was in and of itself threatening.

And yet she still had been afraid of him. Maybe it was natural, perhaps it was simply related to the fact that he was a ghost. She had tried to put her worries about going into something of a relapse behind her, but they were still there, niggling at the back of her mind. Well, if that were the case, she would learn to deal with it and work her way through it, just as she had in the past. And if not, then well, it wasn't even something to think about, now was it?

She was a little startled when she heard a knock on her door, glancing up from behind her overly large frames. "Come in, it's open!" She called out, hoping that her voice sounded professional, but she had a feeling that it just came out something akin to a little girl's squeak.

In walked a face that Jacqueline knew, although she hadn't met her yet. Her photograph came straight from the files she had spent all night studying, reading over time and time again, making notes for possible future sessions with them. Those all flew straight out of her head when Jazz Fenton walked into her door, a bright smile on her face as she walked right over and took a seat in the chair that Jacqueline had set out for patients.

"Hi there!" Jazz chirped, looking straight at Jacqueline, her body language already telling her that this girl was radically a different person than her brother. Where Danny seemed guarded and watchful, Jazz seemed more open and optimistic, as if she had nothing to hide herself, no secrets to guard. She seemed confident and self assured, unlike her brother who seemed to be filled with doubts, but did his best to look as if he wasn't filled with doubts. "I'm Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton's older sister. I hear that he was pulled aside yesterday to talk to you, so I wanted to have a chat with you myself about him, if that's alright."

"Well, yes." Jacqueline said after a moment, blinking a little. If she recalled correctly, it seemed that Jazz wanted to go into psychology herself, and she could tell that much already. "But you know that I can't discuss anything that we talked about in yesterday's session. Patient doctor confidentially, after all." She told her. "Even if it is with a family member."

"Oh, don't worry, I know that much." Jazz smiled. "I'm an aspiring psychologist myself." She told her. "Although if you've read my file, you probably know that much already." No doubt that she had, it wasn't unreasonable that she would have gone looking in the files of Danny's family and close friends. It would be what she would have done, at any rate.

Still, she had to admit, while she had thought that Jacqueline looked a bit young when she had been introduced to them at the assembly, Jazz was honestly a little surprised at how much that impression held up as she got closer to her. She looked younger than Jazz herself did, to be honest, and no doubt from the way she tried very hard to look as professional as possible, there was some kind of complex there. Then again, it wasn't Jazz's place to be psychoanalyzing the new student counselor, so she quickly put such thoughts from her mind.

"That's fine then." Jacqueline nodded her head, folding her hands. "What can I do for you then, Jazz?" She asked her, using the name she had introduced herself with. A nickname, she assumed, and one that she had never heard for 'Jasmine' before. "Do you have some concerns about your brother that you would like to discuss?" She guessed.

"Concerns, yes." Jazz nodded her head, placing her hands in her lap. "My brother Danny is going through some pretty complicated issues... which I'm afraid I can't entirely go into detail with you about, as unhelpful as I know that might be." She told her. "He's a good kid, but I worry about him, and I worry about the fact that he likes to keep things to himself that I think he _should _be talking to people about." She explained, frowning deeply. "He needs someone that he can vent things to, his worries and frustrations, and he's not doing it with me, and I don't think he's even really doing it with Sam and Tucker either."

"So he's going through some troubles?" Jacqueline asked, blinking a little. "And he's not discussing them with you, although you seem to know the source."

"Yes." Jazz said. "Danny likes to keep things to himself, to pretend things are just fine even when they're not. I've tried to talk to him about this in the past, but it's never done any good. And he's... _seen _some things." She admitted, glancing away ever so slightly from Jacqueline. "I'm worried that he's still holding onto his thoughts regarding... a certain past event."

Jacqueline's eyes narrowed, her brows furrowing. "Seen things?" She asked, a hint of worry in her voice. "Is there any chance you could be more specific, Jazz? Is there something going on at home or..."

"Oh!" Jazz quickly shook her head. "Oh no, no! Mom and dad are _fine_, there's nothing like _that _going on behind the scenes, if that's what you mean. They're kind of overzealous and embarrassing, and dad can be pretty forgetful, but they're very good parents." She told her quickly. And it wasn't exactly like they had any idea that the ghost that they wanted to study so passionately was their son, so they couldn't entirely be held accountable for _that_.

"Oh, that's good then." Jacqueline let out a small sigh of relief. Of course, she still might have to go see the situation for herself if she deemed that Danny's troubles warranted it, but for now, she put ideas of possible child abuse or neglect on the back burner. "I don't suppose you can give me any more specifics about what your brother is going through, can you? You haven't exactly given me a whole lot to go off of here."

"I'm sorry." She shook her head. "I know I sound very vague and unhelpful, but I really can't tell you more than I already have." She apologized. "Just remember this- Danny's a good kid, he really is. He's got the capability in him to become a really great person one of these days- but..." She hesitated a little, almost as if she didn't want to say this. "I also know that he has the capability in him to become something _terrible_. As... horrible as that sounds of me to say. _Please _never tell him I said that." She begged her.

Jacqueline's eyes narrowed- that was an unusual thing to say, of that she was sure. "I won't. I won't breathe a word of it, Jazz, promise." She told her. "You seem awfully invested in your brother's future. I hear that you even turned down some scholarships from prestigious out of state colleges and have only started looking at ones closer to home. Why is that, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I want to be as close to Danny as possible." Jazz told him. "Until he's managed to sort out his issues. I'm smart, I know I'll thrive wherever I go, whatever I do, as egotistical as that might be of me to say, but Danny... Danny's a smart kid too, he just hasn't really been able to put his smarts to work lately."

"Some of his teachers seem to think that he has some kind of learning disability." Jacqueline told her, only choosing to mention this nugget because she knew it had been brought up with his parents before. "He seems to disagree."

"I don't think it's really so much a learning disability." Jazz said after a moment, pondering something. She eventually changed her mind, however- talking about Danny's problems with ghost speak might be a bit too informative. "It's something he has to overcome, but trying to diagnosis him with one really wouldn't do any good. It would probably do more harm, even and I'm sure neither of us wants that."

"Oh no." Jacqueline shook her head. There seemed to be more, so much more, that Jazz wasn't telling her, and that in itself spoke volumes. She was clearly very concerned about her brother, and wanted him to get help, and yet she couldn't even discuss what it was that was causing Danny's problems in the first place. That was very telling, and it told Jacqueline that Danny's secret, whatever it was, ran very deep- and perhaps was more than a little dangerous as well. Something that you couldn't talk about, even when you wanted to find help for the person in question? That troubled her, to be honest.

"You seem to be a good person, Jacqueline." Jazz said honestly- especially in comparison to their last counselor, but then again, pretty much anyone would be better at this job than Penelope Spectra. She had to admit, she had taken a certain amount of smug satisfaction from peeling that witch down to size (but the Fenton Peeler was still weird). "That's why I want you to keep on my brother. He's going to try and give you the slip, try and convince you that he's fine and he doesn't need any help- but you shouldn't listen to that. He needs someone to talk to."

"Does this... secret he has put him in harm's way?" Jacqueline asked carefully, her lips twisting in a frown as Jazz's expression quickly became utterly unreadable. She had a _remarkable _poker face, likely she had been prepared for such questions.

"Yes." Jazz said finally. "But he puts himself there, because he feels that he has to be there. It's part of what makes him such a good kid." She said after a moment, giving the woman a small smile, a hint of sadness to it. If there were something she could do about this, she clearly would, but Jazz felt helpless when it came to convincing Danny that he didn't have to fight all of the ghosts in Amity Park, that it wasn't his problem, that there were others around who could deal with them as well.

"I see." Jacqueline frowned, considering his information. So Danny was doing something the clearly put him danger and caused his sister to worry- but it also made her think that he was a good kid. Well, that didn't much make sense to her, nothing dangerous she could think of would end up with him being viewed as a 'good kid' as well. Still, she filed this information away with all of her other mental notes about Danny.

The more she learned about him, the more of a mystery he seemed to become.

"Is there anything else, Jazz? Anything else you wanted to talk about, or anything else that you wanted to tell me about Danny?" She asked her.

"I just wanted to ask you to tell me what _you _thought about him." Jazz said, getting to her feet.

Jacqueline blinked, a bit taken off guard by this question- and even more off guard by the fact that the first word that floated into her mind was 'scary'. That couldn't be right though... sure the boy seemed a little odd, but was that really her immediate impression of him? It didn't sit right with her, at any rate, and so she thought harder about the matter, eventually giving Jazz a small smile. "He seems like a nice kid." She said finally, and she realized that this wasn't a lie either- even _while _her first impression remained true. "Conflicted, but a nice kid."

Jazz nodded her head, seeming a bit satisfied with that. "Good, I'm glad. He really _is _you know, a nice kid." She said, glancing away from her again, as if her mind was momentarily somewhere else. "Just keep working with him, and I'm sure in time he'll open up to you about some things, Miss Browning."

With that, Jazz departed, leaving Jacqueline to dwell on her own thoughts. That chat had both been somewhat helpful and had also raised even more questions that needed answers. So Danny was, in his sister's own words, a 'good kid', but she was also worried that he had the potential to become something horrible? She obviously didn't want him to go in that direction, and it seemed as if she didn't believe that he was- but it was a worry that was always on her mind, and she seemed rather guilty about that. She clearly didn't want to think that about her brother, not at all, but she also wasn't willing to dismiss such worries- as if she thought by doing so, she would allow her brother to inch closer towards that direction.

Scratching her head in frustration, Jacqueline got to her feet, pacing the room a little. It was clear that Danny Fenton was keeping secrets, and that they were rather big ones. Not normal teen secrets, although he most likely had those as well, but something that it seemed as if a teenager normally shouldn't be keeping.

Grabbing a pad of paper and a pen, Jacqueline sat back down at her desk again, uncapping it with her mouth.

_Glowing eyes._

_Weird language (?)._

_Talks to empty space?_

She frowned, tapping her pen against her paper, before capping it again. She quickly paused then, uncapping the pen quickly, adding another line to the page, before she capped the pen again, now satisfied.

_Abnormally cold._

With that added, she held the list up, scanning over it again, tilting her head a little, eyes narrowing. It wasn't... as revealing as she hoped it would be, but then again, she didn't exactly think listing a bunch of things on a piece of paper would do much good. It did help her get her thoughts in order, however, and Jacqueline nodded to herself, for now storing the list inside her desk drawer, not wanting to put it with Danny's main file, which she knew that the staff could request to see if they so wished.

She wasn't sure why, she just felt that it wouldn't be a good idea to.

* * *

Homeroom had just begun for the day when Jacqueline suddenly found her chair being pulled out from underneath her, letting out a startled yelp as she tumbled onto the floor, falling to the side of the overturned piece of furniture. Her thoughts didn't have long to linger on this strange event as she suddenly found herself coming face to face with a monstrous, inky black form that floated in front of her, her eyes narrowing that she seemed to have not gotten quite what she wanted.

_Ghost_.

Unlike her encounter with Phantom, the fear reaction was immediate, and it quickly enveloped the young woman, holding her tightly in her snare. She couldn't move her body, so paralyzed by fear as she was, her entire body quivering and shaking as she found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the specter in front of her. It seemed vaguely female, and Jacqueline didn't like the way it looked at her one bit, as if she were means to an end, the kind of end that she would want no part of.

That's when Phantom arrived, and the ghost woman turned her attention towards him. "Well, well, well." She said, her lips twisting into a smirk. "If it isn't my favorite little fount of misery. But, I don't have time for you today, ghost kid. Bertrand?" And at the mention of another name, Jacqueline realized that this ghost woman wasn't alone, there was another one with her, some kind of shapeless, formless blob, which upon the woman's command to 'sic 'em', turned into a glowing green tiger, with massive claws and teeth.

And then the woman turned her attention back towards Jacqueline, and she felt her heart pound heavier in her chest as the other ghost, the one she had called Bertrand leapt towards Phantom, shoving the ghost teen through the wall, leaving her alone with this inky black spirit.

But Phantom's brief appearance did seem to give Jacqueline control of her arms again, and she used it for all it was worth, pushing herself backwards along the floor and away from the ghost woman. Strangely, she felt a comforting presence wash over her, and the ghost woman's eyes narrowed, as she opened her mouth-

and out came the strange _noise _that she had heard Danny speaking yesterday.

**"I'm not sure what you expect to do by trying to get in my way." **The ghost woman said, seeming to gaze at something that wasn't Jacqueline, as if there were someone else in the room that she couldn't see. **"Do you really think a ghost so weak as yourself could ever compete with me? You can't even show yourself to normal humans. There's no threat from you. You're better off moving aside, if you don't want to be destroyed."**

Whatever train of thought that the ghost woman had was broken when the ghostly tiger was forced back into the classroom, echoes of green energy crackling as it flew through the wall and slammed into the opposite one. Phantom phased through the wall once more, his blazing green eyes narrowing in fury as they locked onto the ghost woman's.

"I don't know what you want, Spectra, but you're not going to get it." He said, his voice cold, the echo that Jacqueline had heard in his voice last night somehow growing _stranger_, all the more distorted and haunting. Even in her terror, something clicked in Jacqueline's mind, the name 'Spectra' ringing a familiar bell, although she couldn't quite place it at the moment. "You and your snippy little henchmen are going back into the Ghost Zone, where you belong."

Spectra turned, cool gaze facing the ghost boy, assessing him. In response, Phantom's eyes narrowed and he- straightened his back? It was almost as if he was _concerned _about the impression that he was giving this Spectra. Why would he be though?

"Still going about this business of fighting your own kind, are you?" Spectra asked cooly, her gaze flickering towards Phantom's left eye, which was more or less concealed behind her hair. An amused smirk danced on her face, as Phantom flinched, clenching his fists as he noticed this. "And how is that working out for you? You seem to be missing a certain part." She observed. "Are you sure it's even worth the effort? **She's just afraid of you as she is of me."**

**"I'm not here for your mind games Spectra, not anymore." **Phantom's good eye narrowed, though at her words he could feel his left- or rather, where his left would have been, start to throb in response. **"I'm here to kick your ass." **He said frankly, choosing to forgo his more witty quips when dealing with this one. He didn't want to have his words turned against him, so it was best that he used as little of them as possible.

If there was one ghost that he just couldn't stand dealing with, it was _Spectra_. Spectra always knew just what to say to fill him with self doubt and he didn't like it one bit. The worst part was, the ghost woman knew this as well. Phantom's gaze briefly flickered towards the still trembling Jacqueline, before floating upwards a bit, to where with a show of great bravado, but not much actual threat, Iliana as floating, her pale arms thrown up in front of her, clearly not wanting to let Spectra and Bertrand anywhere _near _her sister.

And Phantom wouldn't let them either- that was his job, after all.

They were speaking in that language, Jacqueline thought, even as her heart pounded in fear, even as her brain screamed at her suddenly useless legs to get up and run the hell out of there. The amount of _fear _in the room was almost overpowering, she felt as if she was going to gag on it, knowing that it was all her own. But even with that, she still knew, knew instinctively that this strange language that both Phantom and this Spectra ghost were going on in was the same strange language that she had heard Danny speak in yesterday. And that fact didn't sit well with her at all.

But she didn't have time to think of it, for in a rush, the other ghost, Bertrand, Spectra had called him leapt towards Phantom, flashing claws towards him. Phantom turned intangible, the claws passing through him, and casually uncorked what appeared to be a strange metallic thermos as he did so. The tiger ghost tried to backpedal, hard, but he quickly found himself being sucked up inside of it. Phantom turned towards Spectra, rattling it and giving her a smug grin.

"Oh no, not this time, ghost child. I've got plans, you see." Spectra shook her head, eyes narrowing. "Tell your little human friends that I said, hi." She grinned, waving a hand at him, before she all but vanished, causing the white haired ghost to swear rather colorfully underneath his breath. His green eyes darted about the room, before he heaved a sigh, seeming to think that she was well and truly gone.

"I'm sorry about that. Are you alright?" Phantom asked, floating over towards Jacqueline, although he stopped short when she flinched a little at his approach. Instead he frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, yeah, sorry, you must be pretty scared right now. Look don't worry, I'll make sure to round her up and see to it that she can't do anything to you. So... don't worry, okay? I'm not about to let any ghost in this town get what it wants."

Jacqueline only felt herself slowly able to nod in response to this, unable to find her voice. Phantom seemed to be bothered by this, the logical part of her brain noticed, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead he did another check of the room, before floating away from her again. As the distance between them grew, and now that the other two ghosts were gone, Jacqueline did find herself gathering up a bit more courage, her body starting to respond again as it should. Carefully, still shaking, she pulled herself to her feet, getting her breathing underneath control. She had learned about this, she knew how to handle her fear, but it had gotten the better of her for awhile- not that she could even blame herself, to be honest.

After all, she wasn't dealing with people and the realm of the rational here, she was dealing with ghosts! Things that really, she thought, shouldn't even _exist_.

"Okay, good, you can get up. Are you going to be okay?" Phantom asked, worry clear in his voice, however, echoed it was. She was just relieved that he was speaking English again, instead of that blasted, haunting _noise_.

"Y-yeah." Jacqueline stammered after a moment, slowly nodding her head, as if she was unsure of herself. She thought she was going to be okay- this was by far, now that she thought about it, not the most horrifying thing she had experienced in her life.

That would have been _that night_.

"Good." Phantom said, seeming satisfied with that. "Look, I have to go." He told her. "If you need some help, there's supposed to be some kind of ghost attack stress relief kit in the teacher's lounge or something, or so I hear." He told her. He took one last, lingering look at her, before he phased back through the door. He would have to check over the entire school to make sure there was no more sign of Spectra- he didn't like the idea that she was roaming around free somewhere, didn't like it one bit. He figured he would hold on to Bertrand for awhile, rather than let him back out straight in the Ghost Zone right away.

Whatever Spectra was planning, he didn't want her to have any help. She was bad enough on her own.

Once Phantom was gone, Jacqueline sat back down at her desk in a daze, for a few moments simply wordlessly staring up at the ceiling, her brain unable to process any other thoughts other than running over what had just happened endlessly over and over again in her mind. Oh how she had been hoping that she wouldn't run into a ghost attack, oh how she had hoping- and yet, as it turned out, a ghost had come after _her_. She didn't know why, she didn't even think she _wanted _to know. She didn't want to know what that horrifying inky black shadow of a woman wanted with her, why she had come after her that- that, what had Phantom even called her again?

Spectra.

Phantom had called her _Spectra_. Why had that name been so familiar?

Jacqueline's eyes flew wide then, and she quickly shot up, grabbing for the old personnel files kept in the lower drawer, digging through them until she pulled one out, her fingers shaking as she laid eyes on the name of the person who had held the job before her.

_Spectra, Penelope._

"What in the world...?"


End file.
